As an introduction, thoughts from the user reviews at MSN Autos:
“Did the interior designers ever sit in this car?”
“I like the styling and performance of the Impala, the car has a show of Class!” (Notice that capital “c.” That's sincerity.)
“Flimsy feeling interior parts, loose handling at limits”
“This thing is really easy to drive, and really easy to like.”
“It's not a bad car, but I cannot think of any compelling reason to pick it over anything else.”
Dial controlled headlights. Volume buttons on the wheel. Triangular side mirrors. A brake pedal. A gas pedal. AM/FM radio reception.
Crushing mediocrity?
Welcome to Mildred. She is a 2011 white Chevy Impala. She has 28,000 something miles (well, 29,000 something now) and a 211 HP V6. And of course, standard on all Impalas, a 4-speed automatic. Compared to our Corolla, she is like a lumbering polar bear strapped to a rocket.
[...Couldn't find a picture for that.]
I've driven an Impala once before, when I was valeting, and I really liked driving that one the half mile or so we shared together. So when the friendly (and kinda cute!) rental car guy pointed at the Impala and said it was the one reserved for me, I was fairly pleased—especially since it was in this nice crisp white with a black interior. At first glance, the front fascia of the Impala comes off looking a little surprised and clueless, which makes it an appropriate choice for a rental car.
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| "Another driver! ...You're not going to abuse me like the others, are you?" (1) |
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| They're triangular. (2) |
I mean, I might not see this guy coming up behind me until he was next to me.
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| With his fiery roof luggage. (3) |
I should also note that the glove compartment opens really slowly and takes some force. I felt the same way opening it as I do when I'm trying to get a foreign object out of my cat's mouth, and that's an uncomfortable feeling.
One important thing (in fact, the first and worst negative thing I noticed about this car) is that the brake pedal and the gas pedal are not anywhere close to being on the same plane. When I'm driving, I like to be able to rest my heel and press either the gas or the brake pedal with the ball of my foot. When I tried that with this car (fortunately, it was while I was backing out of a parking space at maybe 2 MPH), the side of the top of my foot hit the side of the brake pedal as I pivoted. Here is a graphic so you can understand the approximate relative positions of the pedals.
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| I added a linear scale for perspective. (4) |
Also, I should mention that together, using our 211 horses, Mildred and I successfully ticked off the driver of a brand new 5-series. (Bonus points!)
So since this is a “review” (or something) I am required to come to a conclusion regarding the car. Should you buy it? Should you assent to taking it as a rental car? Should you refuse to set foot in it and have violent and involuntary negative physiological reactions when you see it out of the corner of your eye? Well, I have some easy answers.
No, you should not buy this car. If I'm gonna drop 25 to 30 thousand dollars on a car, it better be entertaining. This one's not.
Yes, you can rent it. The whole point of renting a car is for it to be a hassle and for you not to really enjoy it (because if you like the car too much and didn't get the insurance...well...), so it's best to opt for cars that don't provide too much excitement. Mildred and I drove very safely while we were together, because I didn't take any insurance out on her and, frankly, because she didn't tempt me to act otherwise.
No, you should not refuse to set foot in it—the safety ratings actually look pretty good and if you look at the crash test photos (they're on MSN Autos, which we all know by now is my favorite quick info site), the safety cage is really well maintained. Although that does happen in most vehicles today as far as I'm aware.
No, you should not have violent reactions to it. Poor control over your involuntary reactions is a sign of weakness.
Basically the take-home point is the car was okay. But it's not really That Great.
So starting with this post, I'm going to really try to be good about sourcing my photos. Many of the ones I've put up are ones I've messed with, and in the future when I mess with them I'll source the originals. As you can tell I'm doing it with footnotes so I don't have to break the flow of the actual text as much. Basically, I know that if I took as cool a picture as the picture of the flaming car is, I would want that credited. Oh and you can assume from now on that if I don't credit a photo that photo is mine, although I'll try to mention it for the sake of clarity.
1) mine
2) mine
4) mine
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